Carrying a cross

I look around me at my Christian friends and see a lot of difficulty and struggle. This is the reality of the Christian life ( it's the reality of life full stop, so we can't expect to be immune from that! )

But we have the privilege of seeing our difficulties as our cross to bear. How do you turn around your heart to cope with carrying your cross? Do you find it helpful, easy or very hard?

Carrying one's cross (Mt 10:38) is about dying to self (1 Cor 15:31) and living for and in Christ. In other words, living his life instead of our own (Gal 2:20). I often forget and focus on myself rather than Jesus when things get hard But when I do remember, it makes all the difference ... I was feeling totally drained one evening, there's so much going on around me just now, and I'm not sleeping brilliantly so I've been really tired, when I remembered Isaiah 40:31, those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength ... so I just took a moment to pray and it made all the difference. I don't know why that surprised me!

Yes, very true. I'm very into the idea of redemptive suffering, the notion that God takes all our difficulties and redeems them for his good purposes. So for me, my crosses are easier to bear if I offer them to God the same way I offer the day to Him in the morning. It doesn't make things any easier, but it is a comfort.